Formula 1 Australian GP 2015

Formula 1 Australian GP 2015 Photos and Stories.

Lewis Hamilton claimed the 34th victory of his career when he led Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg home at Albert Park.

Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton
Daimler Media Photo

The start of the seasons first race was in a shuffle losing three cars even before they took to the track for the warm-up lap.

Williams's driver Valtteri Bottas was ordered not to race by the official doctor after suffering an injured disc in his back in qualifying and spending the night in hospital. The reason was that Bottas could not remove himself on his own and therefore created a potentially dangers condition for himself.

Red Bull also lost a car before the start, Daniil Kvyat had to stop, after just failing to make it around to the pits due to gearbox trouble.

At the drop of the flag Lewis Hamilton left the crowd and was never challenged throughout the race. Rosberg maintained a distance behind and could never get close enough to challenge for the lead.

The blue Melbourne skies, and warm sunshine was tempered by a cool, strong and blustery wind creating great racing conditions. The race gave the capacity crowd in Albert Park an interesting show but the main story seemed to be the dropping of cars as in the end there were only 11 cars running with veteran Jenson Button, McLaren, in last position.

The secondary stories were Ferrari and Williams.

Ferrari had launched a major changeover within their F1 race program which seemed to have started back last year when the President of Ferrari, at the track, overheard on the radio from one of his drivers, that the car had no power. "What a 'Ferrari engine' with no power? Heads were to roll.

Sebastian Vettel disappointed with his 2014 Red Bull mount jumped to Ferrari and seems to be right at home. However even thou Vettel's performance was much improved over 2014 the Ferrari could not keep up with the 2 Mercedes and crossed the line more than 2 seconds behind 2nd place for his first podium finish with Ferrari.

Vettel and his Ferrari 3rd place may not be the only thing being talked about back in Maranello on Monday. Kimi Raikkonen, chasing Massa, had a long first pit stop due to problems with the left rear tire. Then on his second stop the left rear again hung-up creating more delay. But then things really went off and Kimi was released to the track, the tire-man raising his arm in protest, before the wheel was fully secured.

Kimi failed to make a full lap and parked the Ferrari beside the track.
Williams put on a good show in 2014 and looks poised to do the same this year. Felipe Massa drove the Williams home just over 1 second behind the Ferrari for 4th place and his new teammate Felipe Nasr was following arriving at the line in 5th place.